Improvement in piano-fortes



S. B. BRIGGS.

I PIANOPORTE. No. 47,196.

Patented Apr. 11, 1865.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SPENCER B. BRIGGS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN PlANO-FORTES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No.47.l96, dated April ll, 186:).

To all whom it may concern..- Be it known that l, SrENcEn B. Dnroes, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Piano-Fortes; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a transverse vertical section of a square horizontal piano-forte constructed according to my invention. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section in the plane indicated by the line 00 w, in Fig. 1. Figs. 3 and 4 exhibit vertical sections of the wrest-plank, hitch-plate, sound board and bridge, and corresponding longitudinal views of the strings.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

The principal object of my invention is to increase the volume and improve the quality of the tone of the piano forte, first, by providing a larger sounding-chamber than is practicable with the ordinary method of supporting the case of the instrument, and, sec: oudly, by so connecting the strings .with the soundboard as to make them actuate the said board to the fullest extent.

The first feature of my invention, which is illustrated by Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings,

consists in inclosing the commonly unoccupied space uuder the case proper of a pianoforte by a box of wood sutiiciently thin for its free vibration to form a sounding-chamber in communication with the space below the soundboard-within the case proper. In carrying out this feature of my invention I construct the case proper, A, of the instrument separate from the box B, which constitutes my sounding-chamber, and with its bottom, composed of a more open frame, as shown at a a, iu'Fi g. 1, and I prefer to employ an iron frame, b, of sufficient strength to sustain the tension of the strings.

The box or sounding chamber B is made with a bottom, sides, and ends of thin wood, but without a top, and is strengthened by up right corner-pieces c c, which supply the place of the ordinary legs of the instrument and form the main support of the case proper, A, which rests upon the top of .the said box, and which is kept in place by dowels d uponits bottom, fittingwithin the upper edges of the box, or by other suitable means. The said box is supported on casters 0 c, which keep the bottom)" raised a short distance above the floor. The front 9 of the said box is made concave externally in its horizontal section, as shown in Fig. 2, to allow room for the legs and feet of the player and the ordinary pedalworlr, and this front may be barred or other wise strengthened at the iniddleof its length to serve the purpose of what is termed the lyre in the ordinary piano forte. The thin sides, ends, and bottom of this box or sounding chamber, being exposed to the vibration of the air produced by the action of the ordinarysound-board, h, of the instrument with which the strings are connected, present a large vibrating surface, by which I obtain not only a large increase of the actual tone of the instrument, .but improve the sympathetic quality of the tone in a great degree. If it should be desirable for the purpose of facilitating transportation, the corners of the box B may be hinged to enable it to fold up.

The second feature of my invention, which is illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4, consists in a novel device for the attachment of the strings separately to the soundboard bridge, whereby I obtain for each string two metal bearings parallel, or nearly so, with the surface of the sound-board, and so arranged as to produce a a suflicient bend of the string on and between the said bearings in a direction perpendicular to the sound-board, thereby forming a more rigid connection of the string with the soundboard, both in a perpendicular and parallel direction, than has been hitherto obtained, and to provide to the fullest possible extent for vibration of the sound-board with the string, both in a longitudinal and perpendicular direction; the principal object in this re spect to be obtained being to secure the fullest longitudinal .vibration of the sound-board without resting the strings upon the fiat surf we of the sound-board bridge in the ordinary zigzag form.

Fig. 3 shows one and Fig. 4 another mode of constructing the two bearings Z and m. Fig. 3 represents these bearings as composed of two wire pins secured in one side of a metal stud, n, which is screwed firmly into the bridge 1', and Fig. 4 represents the said bearings as provided by the upper and lower edges of an oblique slot, q, cut in one side of a metal stud, p, screwed firmly into the bridge. This method of supporting the strings upon and connectiii g them with the sound-board bridge has all the advantage of the old mode of connecting the strings with the br'dge by means of two pins, which produce a bend of the string in a direction parallel with the surface of the sounds of bearing to be given to the string and a1-' lowing a more rigid sound-boart'l to be used than has heretoforebeen practicable. This latter effect-via, the use of a more rigid soundboard-is also contributed to by the soundingchamber B, which gives so great an increase of vibrating surface.

One important peculiarity common to the two constructions of the bearin g on the soundboard bridge represented in Figs. 3 and 4 consists in there being a lateral opening between the bearings land m, which provides for the insertion of the strings laterally, and therefore more conveniently, than when the strings have to be passed longitudinally through holes or under a continuous top-bear ing which extends the whole width of the scale or across several strings.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The sounding-ehamberB,provided undcrthe ease proper of the piano-forte, substantially as and for the purpose herein specified.

2. Oonnectin g each or any one of the strings with the sound-board bridge independently of the other strings by means of two metal bearings, l m, constructed-or provided on or in one side of a stud, a or p, secured in the bridge and having between them a lateral opening through which the string can be inserted in a lateral direction, substantially as herein described.

SPENCER B. DRiGGS.

Witnesses:

HENRY '1. BROWN, J. W. (JooMns. 

